Ever in search of a new prompt, today we cracked open Weird Words - A Lovecraftian Lexicon and chose a page to get us started. The only word on that page to work with was Ivory Gate. It’s the gate through which false dreams come to men from the cave of Hypnos. It was a little bit of a slow start, but then we got to thinking about a man named Roman Thompson who wanted to make sure that everyone had good dreams. He made a machine that could manage your dreams his life’s work. It was a smashing success and the world was ever in his debt, until someone figured out how to monetize it many times over…and worse.

We spend a solid hour on world building for the framework of what could easily be a sprawling series fit for graphic novel, novel, TV, or movies. We’re not trying to brag here, it’s actually kind of a cop-out. We try to write one story in every episode, but this one turned out to be more of a universe in which many stories can happen. Enjoy the beginnings of the company known as Somnus.